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The way Mario Grauso tells it, he wasn’t really given a choice when it comes to collecting watches. A love of timepieces was passed down from his grandfather, to his father and then to him (and, it should be noted, his son Harry is already following in their footsteps). It started when he was gifted with a selection of his father’s watches. “He started forking them over so I ended up with probably over 30 or 40 from him,” he says. And his collection has only grown from there. Grown a lot.

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‘I have to say when I travel I tend to only bring one watch because I don’t want to lose anything. I just arbitrarily pick a watch and that’s the watch. I don’t have a go-to watch to travel with. I guess it depends on the time and where I’m going.’

‘I also collect art. Not as aggressively as some people but a fair amount. Photography seems to feel, I don’t know, kind of the most modern for me to collect. I recently bought some Ronen Goldmans and really enjoy Nan Goldin’s work.’

‘My father’s dad gave him a vintage Rolex and now it’s become a right of passage to get a Rolex when you’re 16 in my family. I gave this [Rolex Steel Submariner] to Harry, my son. It was actually my watch when I was 16 and then I had it made black for Harry and gave it to him for his 16th birthday.’

I don’t get smart watches. I’m not a gadget guy—everybody’s lucky I can use my iPhone. That’s part of the reason I wear a watch; I didn’t transition into electronics the way everyone else did. The Apple Watch feels a little Star Trek, I’m not ready for that much gadgetry on me. Everyone has it now. I don’t want to have the same watch as everyone else.’

‘I wore the Patek Philippe Calatrava World Time on a trip around the world with my son. We kept passing it back and forth on the trip. It was a two-month trip and we started in Moscow, went through Russia, the Middle East, all through Asia and then Australia. When we came back we drove cross-country. So [the watch] literally went around the world.’

‘I have a dealer in Los Angeles. His name is Philip and he pretty much does all of my watches. I’ll cut out a picture and email it to him and he’ll track down the watch. I’ve probably been working with him for 15 years, maybe a little bit longer. He doesn’t have a flashy store. When you walk into his shop you wonder, ‘Am I in the right place?’ But he gets incredible watches and has helped me out a lot.’

‘There are a few watches I really chased. I was looking for the [TK watch] in rose gold with the brown face for a while because I couldn’t find it with the brown face. I chased the Baume & Mercier World Time — it wasn’t a super popular watch at the time, I think it took six or eight months to track it down. The yellow-gold Rolex Yachtmaster also took around six to eight months. The next watch I’m hoping to get is a Rolex Presidential in platinum with a blue face.’

Grauso came to Joe Fresh in 2013, hand-picked by Joe Mimran to be Chief Operating Officer, and ultimately, his successor when the founder stepped down in 2015. Now splitting his time between New York and Toronto, Grauso invited us into his Yorkville home to talk about collecting, watches first and foremost, but also art. But then again, with timepieces like these, the two are nearly indistinguishable.